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The Sir John Herschel Collection
The preparation of the print Calendar of the Correspondence of Sir John Herschel (Michael J. Crowe ed., David R. Dyck and James J. Kevin assoc. eds, Cambridge, England: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1998, viii + 828 pp) which was funded by the National Science Foundation, took ten years. It was accomplished by a team of seventeen professors, visiting scholars, graduate students, advanced undergraduates, and staff working at the University of Notre Dame.
The first online version of Calendar was created in 2009 by Dr Marvin Bolt and Steven Lucy, working at the Webster Institute of the Adler Planetarium, and it is that data that has now been reformatted for incorporation into Ɛpsilon.
Further information about Herschel, his correspondence, and the editorial method is available online here: http://historydb.adlerplanetarium.org/herschel/?p=intro
No texts of Herschel’s letters are currently available through Ɛpsilon.
JH will break his rule about never going out when it is possible to sweep the sky, and dine with TM; will offer some help over mural circle problems.
Comments on social matters, and on what JH has been observing.
Describing JH's observations and comparing notes.
Responds to TM's query in his 1835-1-17 about the effect that motion of the center of the mural circle would have on the microscopic readings.
Additional approaches to resolving TM's mural circle problem [see JH's 1835-2-5].
More on the mural circle [see JH's 1835-2-7].
Some comments about constant error in TM's observations.
About the difficulty of measuring high and low tide with the instruments available to TM; offers the design of an instrument that would measure the mid-point between high and low tides.
Excited about JH's observations, and has shown them to several people.
Sends TM some tide observations, and some calculations done on them.
Believes that TM is the first to see the return of Halley's Comet [see TM's 1835-9-1].
Still struggling with the problems inherent in using the mural circle; the comet has apparently been seen by JH's mechanic, John Stone, prior to having been sighted by TM.
Sends information about where to look for Encke's comet.
Has not had any success in finding comets.
Is intrigued by the apparent displacement of several planetary nebulae from the positions found in the catalogues of other observers. Does not know what to think.
JH is chagrined to note that he forgot to observe the equinox, after having impressed on any and all the need to do so.
Asks TM to measure the position of some stars that are difficult for JH to observe.
Sends a list of additional stars to be measured for JH to use as standards.
About an anomaly in one of JH's lists of observations.
About the principles whereby the nomenclature of the constellations might be reformed.